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Friday, April 01, 2005

Microsoft, You Shady Devil

A short while back, my Xbox started on fire. This happened only a scant week after I received notice from Microsoft that they were recalling the power cords on older Xboxes, which mine was one of. Before I had a chance to get the new cord, the black video game unit went up in smoke, literally. After countless hours on the phone with Microsoft, my mom finally got them to agree to look at our Xbox and fix it, or if it can't be fixed to send us a new (and by new MS means refurbished) one.

Right now my Xbox is still in Microsoft's hands and I have no clue as to if I'll ever get it back or not. Oddly, even though I do not possess an Xbox right now since it is in MS's possession, they still sent me a new power cord. That was nice of them and all, but how about sending me back an Xbox that works for which I can use that power cord.

Now, after reading these twoarticles, I find out that it really wasn't the power cord that was the problem. Even with the new power cord, my Xbox still would have started on fire because of the slipshod soldering job on the power supply inside the Xbox. I really, really hope that someone finds a way to enact some type of class action lawsuit for this because Microsoft is just being ridiculous in issuing new power cords that will only slightly delay the inevitable destruction of your Xbox if the soldered joints have worn away. If the Xbox wasn't so much better than the PS2 and Gamecube, I'd just switch over to one of those platforms exclusively, but I like the Xbox's games so much more. That, and Live! seals the deal.